Thanks to Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Space Innovation, insurtech is becoming increasingly predictive. And, according to the Italian Insurtech Association (IIA), environmental catastrophes are one of the biggest areas of challenge for the insurance industry.

It is estimated that globally, environmental accidents resulted in losses of $343 billion in 2021, of which only 38 % were covered by insurance. Digital innovation can help the industry develop solutions that can perform predictive analytics, but big players in the insurance world, according to IIA, will need to invest at least 400 million euros in the next few years to develop new technologies in Space Innovation, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. These technologies will help mapping risks related to environmental disasters to produce appropriate services and policies, as SaferPlaces is aiming to do concerning flooding.

Gerardo Di Francesco, Founder & General Secretary (IIA), explains that there are already several Italian realities developing highly innovative solutions that use climatic and meteorological data, coming from satellites in orbit, in order to provide parametric insurance products for a more adequate risk management. Among them he mentioned SaferPlaces (met during the IIA Factor challenge) that leverages satellite data for flood risk analysis in urban areas, to produce flood hazard maps for different climate scenarios.

News on this topic (in Italian language):

  • Italian Insurtech Association, Italian association of reference for players in the insurance supply chain who want to innovate;
  • InterMedia Channel, Insurance Online Newspaper, Information and Training for Insurance Intermediaries;
  • Byinnovation, enterprises daily news on sustainable development by innovation in services-products-solutions management;
  • AziendaBanca, magazine reporting technological, strategic and marketing innovation in the banking, insurance and financial sectors since 1996.